It doesn’t feel right for me to comment on Aaron Swartz—I didn’t know him and I don’t know enough about the details of his case to go around placing blame.

So instead, I’ll just say this…

Life can be extremely trying sometimes. One day, you’re riding high, and the next day you’re on the verge of losing millions of dollars of your investors’ capital. It can be difficult enough to weather the storm—but when a huge number of people suffer from either depression or some form of mental illness, you almost wonder how you don’t hear about stuff like this more often.

Do yourself a favor—if you’re finding things difficult to cope with, reach out to someone. Talk to a friend. Admit when the stress of being a founder or at whatever you do is becoming difficult to handle. More than half of everyone goes through this at some point in their lives, but no one ever wants to talk about it. It’s ok to need help once in a while, so don’t be afraid to ask.

On the other hand, when’s the last time you reached out to someone having a difficult time—offering emotional support? When you know the writing is on the wall at a prominent company, perhaps before writing a nail in the coffin blog post, you might just try reaching out to the founder to ask if they’re ok and if they need some help. Anytime can write negative predictions about the dead pool—but not everyone can lend to those who need it most.

This week, in honor of a kid who clearly had a lot more ahead of him than was ever realized, I’d ask that you do one of two things:

Either ask for emotional support if you feel like you need help or offer it to someone you see going through a tough time.